


The Closer We Get

by DearFellowTraveller



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputation, Angst, Anxiety, Death, Fluff, Good Dad Jack, Idk i'm bad at tagging, Injury, Lots of Swearing TBH, M/M, Possessive Jack, Protective Jack, Rhys as Jack's PA, Slow Burn, Violence, anxiety/panic attacks, it's mostly Jack let's be honest, more tags to be added later probably, occasional badass rhys, oh also Angel is young, rhys gets his cybernetics later woops, smut later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-01-07 23:28:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12242724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearFellowTraveller/pseuds/DearFellowTraveller
Summary: Set in an AU where Jack never died, Rhys just recently got the demotion of a lifetime thanks to the untimely airlocking of his now former boss, Henderson. Thinking it's the end of all he's worked for, Rhys gives up his hopes of climbing the Hyperion ladder. That is until the day a single good deed turns his whole life around.(Update 12/12/18: Merry Christmas I'm rewriting this)





	1. A Not-So-Normal Day

**Author's Note:**

> Eyyy my first published fic! My writing is horrible but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. <3
> 
> (Update 12/15/18: still in college til May but with a lot more free time, I'm rewriting this story from the beginning (my other fic too) to hopefully improve it a bit and get it rolling. updates won't be regularly scheduled but I hope to have them out not too long after previous chapters. thank you for your patience!)

It had been roughly four days since Rhys' promotion. Well, more like a demotion if you were to ask him. Or anyone else, for that matter. Assistant vice janitor was not the promotion he'd been hoping for, even though his new boss insisted it would be good for him. Oh yes, what a pleasure it was cleaning up trash and tidying up the halls of Helios all day. What a truly insightful learning experience. And it was all thanks to his good ol' pal Vasquez, who so kindly granted him the position after sending his old boss, Henderson, out an airlock. Sure, being blasted out an airlock into space seemed a little harsh, but in all fairness it wasn't an uncommon thing to see. Not at all, actually. On Helios, that sort of death was actually more of a blessing considering the quantity of horrible alternatives. Hyperion's infamous CEO, Handsome Jack, was notorious for his homicidal tendencies. The man was capable of silencing a room with his presence alone. If he was in a bad mood, even looking at him the wrong way could seal one’s fate. Dying at the hands of that man was probably the least desirable alternative to freezing and suffocating in the void of space. Everyone respected the man though, whether it be out of fear or otherwise. Rhys only wished he could switch places with him. Then he could give Vasquez a piece of his mind. Shoot him out an airlock and see how he liked it. Oh, but maybe demote him first? Yeah, that sounded nice. Unfortunately though, he knew full well the world didn't work like that. And there would always be more trash to pick up, with his bare hands, because that was his job now.

Today hadn't been any different from the others. While he wasn't the only janitor on Helios, he most certainly felt like it. Rhys had been back and forth all day, one side of the station to the other as he went around taking care of everyone else's messes. Whether someone had tipped over a trash bin or spilled their over-his-pay-grade coffee on the floor, he'd heard about it. It was exhausting, and if he could do literally anything else he’d probably jump at the opportunity, but there was simply nothing he could do. At the very least, his shift for the day was almost at its end.

“Come on man, I really gotta get by,” a disgruntled worker said, a hint of anger in his voice. His face, however, showed more of what looked like concern. Maybe he was late to a meeting or something of the like.

Rhys tried his best to ignore him as he sloppily mopped behind his trusty wet floor sign with some sort of water and chemical mixture. And man, the stuff was slippery. He'd already told the guy to find a different way around. It would only take an extra five minutes or so, why was it such a big deal? Go down the other hall, take a left, walk for a bit, take another left, and boom! Back on track. He could have been there by now! But no. The guy had to make a scene about it, and Rhys was not in the mood.

“Fine,” Rhys started. “If you wanna go this way, be my guest. Don't say I didn't warn you.”

The man gave a firm 'hmph' before stepping with purpose past the bright orange sign. Rhys rolled his eyes as almost immediately the guy fell down, audibly landing on his side. That sounded like it hurt. “God damn it...,” the man mumbled as he watched, as if in disbelief, as his briefcase slid a short way down the hall, coming to a stop near Rhys where the floor had yet to be cleaned. “You son of a bitch,” the man grumbled angrily, now carefully attempting to get to his feet. Rhys was just trying to hide his smile. “Dude, I told you,” he said through muffled laughter. It earned him a pretty nasty look.

The guy backed off though, moving rather ungracefully behind the sign again after slipping several times to get there. Rhys stepped to the side and used his foot to give the getaway briefcase a gentle kick, sending it sliding back to its owner. “Two lefts,” he reminded the man, pointing to the nearest hallway, before he went back to mopping. He could hear the employee muttering under his breath as he took off as directed, but Rhys paid no mind to it. Being looked down upon was nothing new to him now. It had only been a few days that he'd worked as a janitor, but hardly anyone took him seriously anymore. You had to admit it was pretty impressive getting a year old stain out of the carpet in like two minutes. Right? Okay, maybe not. But after everything he'd done to get as far as he had, Rhys was trying to salvage whatever was left of his self esteem. All those years of hard work had gone straight out the window. Or the airlock, in his case. While Henderson may have had his flaws, he was way better of a boss than Vasquez would ever be. He missed the guy already. Why'd you have to leave me like this, Henderson?

After finishing the length of the hallway, Rhys stuck the mop back into the rolling bucket where it belonged. It was pretty old school but it got the job done, didn't it? With a sigh, Rhys made his way towards the elevator a ways behind him, the only sound in the hall now being the noisy wheels of the bucket as he rolled it along and the satisfying clack of his boots against the solid floor. He had finally completed the last task on his list for the day, and he was absolutely relieved. Oh, what he wouldn't give to be in bed. The job was very taxing both physically and mentally. Of course it was gross and humiliating, but it was also incredibly boring, putting his mind to sleep with little effort. It was only about four in the afternoon, but a nap sure sounded nice. 

As soon as Rhys reached the elevator, he pressed his finger on the down arrow, staring at it unamused as its light flickered on. He'd have to go put the mop away before he returned to his apartment. The very idea sounded tiresome, but at least he'd be free for the rest of the day. Maybe he and his friends would grab dinner? It had been a while since they'd last gone out to eat. Rhys' mood had been pretty sour the past few days, understandably, so they'd neglected to go. But as he was slowly accepting his fate, he was beginning to think a dinner night out with his friends sounded pretty okay. Vaughn and Yvette always knew how to cheer him up. A few drinks and maybe he would forget his mess of a life for a couple hours.

His attention was quickly brought back to the elevator as he heard the familiar 'ding' of its arrival. He waited patiently for the doors to open, beginning to take a step forward as they shifted to let him in. When the doors had fully opened, however, he stopped in his tracks at the sight before him.

There was a little girl somewhat huddled into the back corner, and she was crying.

Alarms went off in his head, but Rhys couldn't tell what was wrong. He gave her a quick glance over and noted that nothing seemed physically wrong, but of course he was still concerned. In his hesitation the doors of the elevator began to close, but noticing so he shoved an arm between them before they could close completely and they reopened. He stepped in, scooting his mop bucket into the corner to his right before returning his attention to the young girl. It was very odd seeing someone her age on Helios, let alone all by herself. She looked to be around five or six years old. And being the self proclaimed compassionate guy that he was, Rhys couldn't just ignore her.

“Uh, hey there,” he said with as gentle of a voice as he could muster. He knelt next to her cautiously. He wasn't sure how to approach the situation. It was definitely a first for him. “Are you okay?”

He could hear the girl sniffle. She was pretty busy wiping her eyes with the ends of her dark blue sweater. For a moment Rhys wondered if she even registered his presence and he opened his mouth to speak again, but shut it as soon as he noticed she shook her head.

“N-no, I…,” she tried through her muffled sobs. She didn’t say any more than that. Whatever was wrong, the poor thing was very clearly distraught.

“Can I help you at all? What’s wrong?” Rhys asked, also just now realizing he’d never selected a floor number for the elevator to travel to. Not that it really mattered at the moment anyway. As he saw the tears flowing from the girl’s eyes he felt more and more determined by the second to help her however he could. What asshole would just leave a little kid crying in an elevator? Certainly not him.

“I can't find my dad,” she finally said, her tone uneven. “H-he's usually in his office, but I went up there, and...” She couldn't finish her sentence before she started crying again. Rhys gently placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her calm, to which she didn’t seem to protest.

“Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm done with work, how about I help you find him? Does that sound okay?”

“R-really?” She asked, finally taking her hands away from her face and looking at Rhys with bright blue eyes. She slid a strand of her deep black hair out of her vision and Rhys could see then just how much she must have been sobbing, given how puffy her eyes looked and how red her nose was. Rhys gave her a reassuring smile. “Of course, I’d be happy to. What's your name?”

“Angel,” she said. At the very least, she seemed less upset now. Although she did seem a bit suspicious, not that he blamed her.

“Angel, huh? Well, Angel, I'm Rhys,” he replied, standing up straight again and placing his right hand on his hip as if to strike a pose. Angel gave him a small smile, and Rhys' heart melted instantly. Whoever left this girl alone was definitely in for it. Who the hell could be so irresponsible to let their child roam Helios unattended? With so much security it wasn't too likely that anything would happen, but with so many questionable people on board it still wasn't entirely safe. Angel wasn't even his own kid and Rhys was still greatly offended at the idea that she'd been left alone and crying for her father. Who was this jackass anyway? Oh, he was going to have some serious words.

After a brief moment of silence, he could feel the elevator slowing down before it came to a stop. The doors opened with a ‘ding’ sound and the two of them disembarked. Since Rhys had never chosen a floor, the elevator had defaulted to descend to the Hub of Heroism. As good a place as any, he figured. There were a few tables near the center of the hub where they could sit down and discuss an action plan.

Rhys had held the doors for Angel as she exited, and he’d quickly rolled his mop bucket out of the elevator and abandoned it to the side next to some potted shrubbery before rejoining Angel who had stood just a few feet away. “Here, let's go sit,” Rhys suggested. She nodded, and he carefully shuffled her through the bustling hub until they found an empty booth table. They both took a seat, with Rhys on one side and Angel on the other.

A moment after they settled in, Rhys sprang right back into his little investigation. “So, Angel. Do you have any idea where your dad could be? Any ideas at all?”

The girl thought for a moment, even putting a hand to her chin. “No, I dunno,” she eventually responded. “Daddy does lots of things so he could be lots of places.”

“Ha, lots of places, huh? Okay, no problem,” he pretended to shrug it off. Her dad was probably some higher up corporate asshole that spent most of the day going from one meeting to another and getting paid just to sit and chat with a few other a-holes for about ten minutes before getting a fat paycheck at the end of the day. Must be nice. At least Angel herself seemed like a good kid.

Rhys really wanted to help her, but he was starting to think it wouldn't be as simple as he would have liked. There wasn't much to go on if the girl had no clue where the guy could be. Maybe he'd give her to one of the security officers? But then, he thought, she'd end up waiting around with a bunch of boring and probably incompetent security dudes while they searched around for her father who could be anywhere on Helios for all he – or they – knew. It was actually probably the better option, but he felt the need to try on his own first. Besides, he really wanted to meet this guy. Give him a piece of his mind. Although perhaps he could just escort her home. That should be okay, right? The girl probably knew her way there. If there was no chance of finding her father, maybe taking her home would be a good idea.

He went for it. “Hey, so, uh... Maybe I could just take you home? Would that be okay? Your dad will get there eventually, so-”

She cut him off, shaking her head in firm disapproval. “No! He wasn't at home! I really need to find him, I... He always said to find him if-,” she stopped herself suddenly, covering her mouth with her hands. Her eyes grew a bit wider as if she were about to say something bad. Rhys wondered briefly what it may have been but in the end opted to ignore it. All that really mattered was helping this girl find her dad. That, and grinding an understanding of good parenting into the guy’s skull.

After Rhys didn't give her any sort of rapid response, she spoke up again. “I have to find him,” she repeated. He could see tears forming in her eyes once more, and he was very quick to jump on the reassurance train. “No, no, hey, it's okay! We'll find him, I promise. Don't even worry about it.”

He could hear her take a deep, shaky breath. She rubbed her eyes briefly before she looked back to Rhys again. She seemed pretty tough for her age, he noted, despite all of the crying. “You really promise?” she questioned.

“Yep! Pinky promise, see?” Rhys held his arm across the table with a smile, pinky finger extended. Of course under normal circumstances he wouldn't use the pinky promise trick, but she was a little girl. They loved that stuff, right? Or maybe not. Oh my god I know nothing about kids, he thought. But much to his relief, Angel giggled and took pinky with her own, shaking their hands up and down a couple of times.

“I trust you,” she said.

 

\------

 

“I better start hearing some answers, right fucking now!” A man bellowed as he paced angrily in front of his desk. Another man stood – or more cowered – in front of him with eyes shut tightly and hands shaking as if he were expecting punishment.

Which he was.

Handsome Jack – yes, the one and only – was more than ready to kill the guy. Why? Well, about fifteen minutes ago, Jack had returned home. He'd been fully expecting to be greeted by the cheerful, smiling face of his daughter. Only he wasn't, and that was a problem. A big fucking problem in his book. She was missing from his penthouse. She should have been there. She shouldn't be anywhere but there. Why wasn't she there?

Angel was missing. His Angel was missing, and he was goddamn pissed. Or was it worried? He wasn't sure anymore. Probably both.

As for the man in front of Jack? Well, that was his PA. His personal assistant. The guy's name was Cal or some shit like that, not that it mattered to Jack. His name might as well be dead for all he cared. He was the dude usually situated just outside of the office. The guy who would let people in, schedule meetings, handle some boring paperwork or whatever. Well, that very same man had apparently seen Jack's daughter earlier in the day too. She'd actually gone right up to him, asking for her father, and Cal turned her away and told her he wasn’t there simply because he didn’t feel like notifying Jack and having to reschedule the meeting he was in at the time. And the worst part was, he didn't even bother to tell Jack about it afterwards. Just turned her away and left it at that. What kind of idiot does that? Had it been literally anyone else the CEO wouldn't have given two shits. But this was his daughter, who was now missing because of the man's incompetence and apparent lack of common sense. Sometimes Jack wasn’t sure how he managed to hire such absolute morons.

“S-sir I'm sorry, I-” The man tried to explain himself, but Jack cut him off.

“You what? You fucking what? You did nothing, you useless bag of dicks!” Jack yelled even louder now. “You didn't call me, didn't message me, didn't do anything. You let her walk away, and now she's missing. Do you know what the hell you've done, buddy? Huh? You know how stupid that was?” Jack's tone was menacing, and his face twisted with fury. His hand was curled angrily as it hovered over a pistol that was securely tucked away in its holster, waiting to deliver some swift justice.

“P-please sir! Please! D-don't kill m-me, I'm begging you! It... it w-won't ever happen again, I swear!” The man cried out, but Jack had heard enough. Well, if he'd even been listening. He really didn't care what the man had to say. It didn't matter. When it came down to it, the guy had fucked up bad. And there was no forgiveness when it came to Angel's safety.

He drew his pistol faster than the man could blink, shooting him directly between the eyes. Cal's body flew back at least a foot before landing with a loud thud. But Jack didn't stop there. No, he emptied the entire clip into the man's limp body before dropping the gun onto the floor. For good measure he gave the new corpse's legs a good kick or two before he finally stopped. “Piece of shit,” he grumbled. He thought it a shame he couldn't have made the death slower, but he had more important things to do. You know, like find his daughter.

“Maya,” Jack called over his communicator. “Get the hell in my office, now.”

There was a short pause before he heard a voice chime in. “Be there soon,” was the only response he received from a feminine voice on the other end of the line. Jack didn't bother responding, instead making his way over to the monitor sitting upon his desk where he quickly pulled up live security footage and began frantically going through the different screens. He hadn’t even bothered to sit down. He had to find her. He had to find his Angel.

He wasn't sure just how long he had been searching through cams before he heard the doors of his office slide open. He peered around the screen for a split second to confirm who it was before darting his eyes back to the monitor. It was indeed Maya.

The blue-haired woman made her way cautiously toward the far end of the room to meet up with Jack. She eyed the body on the floor curiously but didn't say a word about it. She knew all too well what he was like when it came to his tantrums. Especially when it had to do with Angel.

“Did you find anything?” she asked carefully, trying to keep the tone of her voice even as to not upset the man further. She took a seat on a corner of Jack's desk. He shook his head angrily and silence fell between them for at least another five minutes before Jack finally sucked in a rather loud breath of air. Maya wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Peering over at the screen, she noticed that Jack had enlarged one of the camera feeds that featured the Hub of Heroism. Sure enough, she spotted Angel almost right away. The child stood out well among the rest of the crowd passing by that consisted entirely of adults. And who was that she was with? The image wasn't clear, but it looked like Angel was in the company of a rather young man. Neither Maya nor Jack recognized him. If anything, Angel seemed unharmed, yet still the footage of Angel sitting around casually with a total stranger was infuriating to Jack. How did she even meet this guy? Why was she still with him? Maybe he threatened her. He probably did, Jack thought. The jackass. He was so going to kill him.

“Go get her. And grab that douche she's with, too. I'll meet you outside my office, I gotta get someone to clean that mess up,” Jack growled out, looking in disgust at the body now lying in a pool of blood. He finally sat down in his chair. And while he was relieved to see that Angel appeared unharmed, he was still unsettled by the fact she'd even been out by herself. He wondered why she had left the penthouse to begin with knowing that it was the number one rule. Not to leave! He'd have to have a serious talk with her about it later.

Jack stared intently at the screen, barking some orders over his comm about getting a cleaning crew to his office. His tone seemed a bit less bloodthirsty now, but Maya could easily tell he was still on edge. Hopping off the corner of the desk, the siren made her way out of the office and towards the elevator. She'd been careful to step around the mess on the floor. Hopefully the cleaning crew wasn't going to have to stay for round two.

 

\------

Rhys had been lightly chatting with Angel for a little while now in an attempt to cheer her up. The entire ordeal was a complete mess and he wasn't sure how to fix it, but at least for the time being he could occupy the girl while he came up with a plan. Angel didn't seem to mind. In fact, in their short time together she seemed to warm up to Rhys quite a bit. She wasn't as shy or reserved as when he'd first come across her. She was actually turning out to be quite bubbly and talkative. It was adorable.

“No way, you're totally making that up,” Rhys chuckled, but Angel was quick to take the defensive.

“Nuh uh! I definitely got twelve of them!” She tried to convince him, but Rhys wasn't having it.

“There is nooo way you caught twelve of those things, they're way too fast,” he protested, and at that Angel laughed and tried to kick at him lightly from under the table separating them. However, her laughter quickly died down when she noticed someone approaching them. Whatever smile Rhys had on his face diminished as well when he realized her expression had changed so rapidly. Curiously he rotated his head, looking up at the figure before him.

Standing there right beside him was a blue-haired woman. She was way closer than he would have liked. She didn't look too happy, either. Who was she?

“Maya!” Angel exclaimed, hopping out of her seat and practically leaping over to the mysterious woman.

Oh. Rhys watched Angel closely. She didn't seem upset by the woman's sudden appearance. She seemed really familiar with her, actually. Maybe that was a good thing? Or maybe not, because the moment Rhys returned his attention to Maya she grabbed him rather roughly by his left arm and pulled him out of the seat. “Ow, ow, what?” He questioned, stumbling a bit to gain his footing after she’d lifted him with such force. He was wondering if he'd done something wrong, but in his mind he couldn't think of anything. He would have asked what was going on, but she opened her mouth before he could.

“Come on Angel, your dad wants you,” Maya stated, waving for her to follow as she casually started pulling Rhys along towards the elevator, not once loosening her grip. That was definitely going to bruise. He wondered why she was using such brute force with him if she was taking him to the kid’s father. Actually, he began to wonder why she’d bothered bringing him at all. Maybe the dad wanted some answers? Fine. Rhys sure as hell wanted some answers of his own anyway.

“Why didn't he come get her himself?” Rhys asked bluntly as they all boarded the elevator. He was still mad at this father, whoever he was. Why hadn't the man come down on his own to fetch his daughter? Did he think it wasn't worth the time?

Maya selected a floor, although he didn’t look to see which one. She didn’t bother replying to Rhys. She did let go of his arm though, which he retracted gratefully, rubbing the spot she’d handled so roughly. It was pretty sore already. Angel stayed pretty quiet also, but he wasn't sure he liked that. She'd been so chatty not long ago, and now that he looked at her she actually appeared a bit nervous.

And wait, had Maya pressed the button for the top floor? He had now peeked over at the glowing button she’d selected. Rhys thought that was just Jack's office. Or maybe he was wrong. Oh, how he now desperately hoped he was wrong.

He wasn't.

The elevator came to a stop and Rhys’ nerves were getting to him. He was so distracted by his ever growing fear that he hadn’t even heard the usual ‘ding’ of the elevator. The doors opened, and they stepped off into the long stretch of hallway that lead up to the CEO’s office. Rhys was immediately greeted by a rather unfriendly face standing a few feet away. A face belonging to none other than Handsome freakin' Jack. The man’s mismatched eyes stared into – no, through – his soul with what Rhys could only think to be murderous intent.

He was going to die. He didn't know why, but he was totally dead. Jack doesn't look at anyone like that without pulling out a gun. If he hadn't known any better, Rhys would have thought his heart had already stopped beating.

Angel, on the other hand, actually seemed pretty happy to see the man. A little nervous still, but happy nonetheless. She ran towards Jack with her arms outstretched in the man's direction. To Rhys' surprise, Jack knelt down on one knee and held his arms out to her as well, his features going soft now that he was no longer looking at Rhys, but to the little girl.

“There you are, Angel! Where have you been, sweetheart?” Jack asked as the girl collided into him with quite some force. He received little more than crying for an answer. Rhys just watched in absolute confusion as the two hugged. But then the realization dawned on him, and he could swear he could feel his skin go ten shades paler.

Angel was Handsome Jack's daughter, and he was definitely going to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!  
> I apologize if this first chapter seemed slow/boring/etc. but I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things. As previously stated I have hopes my writing will improve a bit as the fic continues.
> 
> The next chapter is already in the works, so stay tuned!
> 
> edit: this chapter was rewritten 12/18 but i forgot to post it as rich text lmao. goodbye italics. oh well, maybe I'll fix it later


	2. Guardian Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all very much for the positive feedback on the previous chapter! It really means a lot. I'm not very confident with my writing. :'>
> 
> This chapter is a little sloppy, woops.  
> I still feel like I'm rushing the plotline. I'm trying to work on that. And everything else, haha.

The plan had been so simple. Find the girl’s dad, harass the guy for his negligence, and leave with a sense of success and accomplishment. The first part had been really easy, to say the least. No searching had been necessary. In fact, he was _escorted_ directly to the father by a stranger with blue hair and an uncomfortably strong grip. It was great!

 

Or at least it would have been great, were Rhys not currently standing in front of his certain death. Honestly, _f_ _orget_ talking to the man about his parenting, he wanted to run away! No one had mentioned that Angel was __Handsome Jack's__ daughter. Hell, he didn’t even know the guy had a kid.

 

Out of sheer terror he must have lost track of his sense of time. He wasn't sure how long Jack had been hugging Angel as she soaked the man's outer jacket in tears, but it felt like many solid minutes of silence and sobbing, and for Rhys, suffering. It only ended when the girl pushed back from him ever so slightly, a sloppy apology quickly following.

 

“I-I'm sorry, dad,” she cried. “I just wanted to find you! Y-you told me to if it ever happened, and-,” but Jack cut her off, patting her head reassuringly. His expression, though, had changed to something that looked a hell of a lot like concern. “It's okay, baby, no need to cry. We can talk about it later, okay? It's alright.” The man brought a hand up to his daughter's face, wiping away a tear that had just escaped from her eye. She gave him what little of a smile she could muster.

 

Rhys could see them exchange a few more quiet words that he couldn't make out, and then Jack stood. Angel had nodded, reluctantly moving away from her father to go stand next to Maya, who had at some point moved towards the other side of the room where she'd seated herself on top of the single desk connected to the wall. Rhys hadn't even noticed. Probably because his eyes kept trailing back to the couple of weapons holstered at Jack's side. He wondered which one the CEO would use to kill him. Something without an elemental effect was highly preferred. While Rhys had never experienced an elemental effect – or any gunshot wound for that matter – he had seen some vids before, and there was definitely a lot of screaming. Really not the way he was hoping to go out.

 

“You,” a rough voice called. Rhys' eyes shot over to Jack's own, which were now locked on to him like a starved skag beaming at a carcass on the side of the road. It was horrifying. “What’s your name?”

 

“Uh, it’s Rhys, sir,” he replied quickly.

 

“Alright _Rhys_ , wanna tell me what the _hell_ were you doing with my daughter?” Jack asked harshly as he shortened the distance between the two of them. He stopped maybe two feet in front of Rhys, glaring at him with piercing heterochromatic eyes. Rhys was now considering walking himself to the nearest airlock and saving Jack the time.

 

This was it. These were his final moments. God, what were his friends going to think? It's not like there was any sort of obituary for the dead on Helios. Even if there was, it would be hard to keep up with how many workers Jack terminated, let alone even __recognize__ some of them. Vaughn and Yvette wouldn't have any idea why he was gone. They'd think he drowned in a toilet, or... however else janitors died around the station. He wasn't actually sure. When he thought about it, being a janitor was probably the safest Hyperion job available. It's not like there were any statistics to mess up or meetings to be late to. The worst that could probably happen may be having to clean particularly disgusting bathroom, and even that sounded better than the situation he was currently in. Not that it mattered anymore. There was no way out.

 

Rhys must have gotten caught up in his thoughts, because he was brought back to reality with the snapping of fingers in his face.

 

Jack was looking particularly annoyed now. “Hey, dum dum. I asked you a question, I expect an answer. Or would you rather I just shoot you?”

 

Shit.

 

“Uh, s-sorry Handsome Jack, sir,” Rhys stuttered, trying his best to compose himself. What had the question been? Oh, right. Angel. “I just found her crying on the elevator so I, um, helped her out I guess. Or I mean, I tried to, but I didn't know what to do. We were just talking and then she came and got us,” Rhys looked at Maya, then back to Jack. He was starting to realize just how stupid he probably sounded. He felt his fear quickly taking over, his breathing increasing at a rapid rate. He was as good as dead. He wasn’t sure what else to say in his defense. “I, u-uh...”

 

“Helped her, my ass,” Jack said, a hand wavering over one of the guns. Rhys was almost whimpering at this point, his back slouched over in fear. He looked down and closed his eyes. He couldn't look that man in the face any longer. He was just so _scared_. Jack would be his end, and he knew it. He had high doubts he could convince the man otherwise, and he was too terrified to even try. Jack’s decisions always seemed set in stone once he made them.

 

Rhys could swear he felt his eyes watering up now. He didn't want to die! But there was no stopping it, there was nothing he could do. Rhys heard the click of a gun holster opening, and that’s when he prepared himself for the worst. His breathing quickened, his heartbeat racing violently in his chest. This was it.

 

Then a pitiful voice called from across the room. “Dad, no! Don't hurt him!”

 

Rhys opened his eyes cautiously and peered towardthe source, finding Angel escaping from Maya's grasp as the blue-haired woman made a feeble attempt at stopping her. She was running over to Jack.

 

Wait, no, she was running to __him__.

 

Angel crashed into Rhys' right leg with surprising force, nearly knocking him over. She was glaring at her father with intensity. Jack stared at her in disbelief. “Angel, go back to Maya,” he commanded, gesturing with his gun for her to move aside.

“No!” She shouted, her grip on Rhys’ leg tightening.

“Angel, c’mon,” he tried again. This time he held out his hand. But she was resilient.

“No, dad!” She yelled, shaking her head and refusing to give in.

With a sigh, Jack stuck the gun back in its holster, clicking the top closed once more so the gun couldn't slip out. Rhys had watched, and while the feeling of immediate danger had subsided he still felt like his life was on the line. But for now, maybe he was okay. Angel had spared him a bit of time.

 

Jack eyed Rhys again, his features showing signs that his temper was fading. “Okay, fine! So let's say you did help her. That's great, kiddo. Peachy, even. But what I really need to know is, did you __see__ anything?” He then asked. That caught Rhys off guard. See something? See what? Other than lots of crying he really hadn't witnessed anything else. Was he _supposed_ to have seen something?

 

Rhys did remember that Angel had cut herself off while they’d been talking earlier. It was as if she almost said something she wasn’t supposed to. Perhaps whatever it was, Jack was referring to the same thing. Either way, Rhys didn’t have a clue. He hadn’t witnessed anything out of the ordinary. His life appeared to be balancing on the result of his answer now, too.

 

Everything was so confusing. In fact, the entire day was confusing. Was it even still Friday? He wasn't sure anymore. He just wanted it to be over. If this was some sort of nightmare he'd really appreciate waking up to Vaughn's unbearably loud alarm right about now.

 

Rhys shook his head as his thoughts returned to the current conversation. “N-no, sir? I'm not sure what you mean.” Jack audibly sighed, looking to Angel with a softened expression. The girl was still hanging off of Rhys' leg. If he was going to kill the guy, it would have to wait until she wasn't around. She clearly liked him, which was truthfully a tad irritating. She'd known him what, for an hour? Maybe even less. Although if he really had helped his little girl, then maybe killing him was a bit harsh. It's just that the concept of someone doing him a favor without him asking was something Jack had a hard time grasping. Then again, it's not like the guy had known Angel was his daughter. There were very few people on the station that even knew she existed. When it came down to it though, Angel was safe and unharmed. That's all he could really ask for. He very reluctantly had to admit, this Rhys guy technically didn't do anything wrong.

 

Besides, Jack thought, the kid didn't seem like the type to cause any trouble. Looking at the scrawny figure again made him realize that there was no way such a spineless idiot could pose a threat. Just seeing how much the poor dude was shaking was enough to tell him that he was completely harmless. It was pathetically hilarious.

 

And __damn__ , did the guy have some legs on him. Most of his body weight had to be from the sheer length of his legs alone. The assumption was enough to make Jack crack a smile. He hadn't really noticed until now since he’d spent the past few minutes dead set on killing the guy. Now that his attitude had shifted, he’d allowed himself to glance over the stranger. Maybe, just _maybe,_ he’d remember the kid. There weren’t too many like him on the station. Tall, legs for days, and nicely coiffed hair. His name was pretty unique as well. _Rhys_ , he thought. A strange one, alright.

 

“Angel, c'mere,” Jack said softly, holding out a hand to her. After a moment of hesitation, Angel placed a small hand on his and he pulled her closer, placing a firm hand on her shoulder.

 

“Alright kiddo, you're free to go,” the CEO stated, gesturing at the elevator a ways behind Rhys.

 

Wait, what?

 

Rhys' fear and confusion shifted into disbelief and hope. He still wasn't sure if what he'd heard was true. He was free to go, as in he could leave and __not die__ _?_

 

He wasn't sure what to do. Was he still going to get shot later? Maybe Jack was just teasing him and he'd shoot him the second he turned around. But he wouldn’t do that in front of Angel, would he? Maybe he really __was__ free to go. Just like that, and with no consequences to follow. It seemed like an oddly generous gesture and Rhys was growing suspicious.

 

Although, when Jack had looked at him to tell him he could leave, Rhys could have sworn he'd noticed something different about the man's demeanor. He hadn't looked so furious. He hadn't exactly looked satisfied, but he certainly hadn't had the same look on his face as when Rhys had first stood before him. It was a look he wasn't sure he'd ever seen on Handsome Jack's face. Most of the time he either appeared confident and smug, or ferocious and deadly. This was a Jack he hadn't seen, something in between. It wasn't a friendly face, no, but it made Rhys realize just how human the man in front of him was. While that sounded ridiculous in theory, it really was __vastly__ different compared to seeing the man on a poster or from a hundred feet away with a gun pulled out on some poor employee. And the way Jack acted with his daughter was so innocent and pure. It almost made him forget that the man was, like, __super__ homicidal.

 

A small smile spread on Rhys' face, not that he'd noticed. And Jack wasn't sure what the hell to think about that.

 

Why was the kid smiling? It was kind of creepy. No one ever smiled around him, it was always all terror and tears. Something more along the lines of 'oh Mr Handsome Jack sir, please don't kill me, ahhh'. The only exception was Angel, of course. Her smile was normally the only he saw, and it was the only one that mattered.

 

“Hey pal, you still with me? I said get lost,” Jack repeated, crossing his arms now and using a harsher tone of voice that instantly snapped Rhys out of his little moment. Thank goodness for that, because the little smile the kid had shown out of seemingly nowhere had really started to weird him out.

 

The CEO now watched with a smirk as the kid realized his situation, quickly returning to a state of mild panic and fear. That was more like it.

 

“S-sorry! Sorry, sir, thank you,” Rhys blurted out nervously, turning on his heels and bolting for the elevator. When he got in, he hit the button for the floor of his apartment and shuffled to the back where he leaned uncomfortably against the hand rail. Still no bullet to the head. Maybe he was in the clear after all. But man, he really should have pressed the button to close the doors too. They were taking their sweet time shutting on their own and Rhys was getting more impatient by the second.

 

However, as soon as the doors started to shift closed, Rhys saw one of Angel's arms raise up and wave around. “Bye, Rhys!” she shouted, and he was touched. He never thought of himself as much of a kid person, but Angel had changed his mind about that. She actually looked a bit sad, and he instantly felt guilty. Over what, he wasn't sure. But he felt guilty.

 

Rhys couldn't open his mouth in time to give her a verbal reply, but he did offer her a little wave and a bittersweet smile. In comparison to all the adults on Helios, interacting with someone so young and full of conversation __not__ related to pay grade or deadlines was refreshing. He'd be lying if he said he wouldn't miss her.

 

\------

 

At around 5:30pm, Rhys finally arrived back at his apartment. The door was already unlocked which meant Vaughn was home as well. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He wasn't ready to face his roommate. There was no simple way of explaining what had just happened. He could try to keep it a secret, but Rhys knew that Vaughn found out about everything eventually. Besides, the exhausted – or possibly traumatized – look on Rhys' face was guaranteed to reveal that something had happened.

 

The second he stepped into the small apartment he was greeted by his friend. “There you are, bro! I was starting to think you were lost somewhere. Or dead,” he snorted. “Didn't your shift end at like three or four?” The shorter man was as cheery as ever, hanging out on his bed that was on the opposite side of the room from Rhys'.

 

“Ha, yeah it uh, ended at about four. Although technically it ends whenever I get all my stuff done. But yeah.” Rhys had tried not to sound like he'd just escaped death all because a little girl told her father __no__ , but he knew it was blatantly obvious that something had gone wrong. And what were best friends for if not for picking up on the subtle changes you wish they'd never notice?

 

Rhys tiredly walked over to his own bed and flopped down face first into his pillow, barely managing to slap his key card onto his side dresser before doing so. He still felt a bit shaken, but his nerves were finally starting to calm down. He never thought he'd see his pillow again. Or his bed. The apartment as a whole, actually. His friends, his sock collection, __everything__. The encounter with Jack had been one heck of an end to his work week. He was grateful to have returned home in one piece.

 

“Hey, are you okay, man?” Vaughn finally inquired, not that Rhys hadn't seen it coming. There was really no hiding it, was there?

 

“That obvious, huh?” he replied.

“You didn’t even take your shoes off, man,” Vaughn remarked, and Rhys responded with a groan as he then kicked his shoes off without getting up, leaving his face deep within the soft hug of his pillow. His shoes fell sloppily onto the floor.

 

“So? What’s up?” Vaughn pried. Rhys gave up quickly.

“I met Handsome Jack,” he said bluntly.

 

There was a moment of silence, as if the accountant was still registering what his friend had said. “ _ _What__?!”

 

“And his daughter,” Rhys added.

“Wait, wait, wait, what? Jack. __Handsome Jack__. Has a __daughter__?”

“Yes.”

“And you met them?”

“Yep.”

There was another pause of silence before Vaughn stood up from his bed and was hurrying over to Rhys'. The bed creaked quietly as the shorter man sat down on the edge of it. “Bro, what the heck happened?” he asked.

 

Rhys begrudgingly pushed himself up, settling on the edge of the bed as well and letting his legs hang over the side where they eventually met the floor. He rubbed his eyes, perhaps hoping to rub away the stress at the same time.

 

“Well,” Rhys began. “Basically I found his daughter all alone in an elevator and stayed with her until someone came and got us. It was some woman named Maya. Never seen her before.” He noted. Vaughn shrugged. “She brought us to the top floor and Jack was just waiting there. They reunited, I almost got shot, and then he told me to leave.”

 

Rhys sat there in silence now, looking at his roommate expectantly. Did Vaughn actually believe him? He hadn’t said anything yet. Yeah, it sounded like a pretty crazy story, but he didn't know what else to say. That's exactly how it went down! He may have left out most of the details, but he really didn't want to think about them.

 

“He just let you leave?” Vaughn finally questioned. “Dang, bro.”

So he did believe him. That was a good start.

Rhys shrugged. “Yeah, well his daughter actually told him not to kill me. Can you believe that? Saved by a little kid. She was really sweet, though. A lot different from Jack.”

 

“I'm kind of surprised. You know? I mean besides the fact that he actually has a daughter. I just meant I'm surprised she'd be nice. Her dad is __the__ Handsome Jack! That guy's got some serious issues.” Vaughn gave him a shoulder pat. He must have noticed how unsettled his friend was, because he dropped the topic pretty fast. “I'm just glad you're back. I said it like a joke earlier, but I was really, _actually_ starting to get worried. You’re always back on time.”

 

“Sorry,” Rhys replied with a sigh.

 

“Hey, no worries. We're definitely talking about this more later though, Yvette's gonna freak.”

 

“She totally will,” Rhys laughed. “Thanks, man.”

 

Vaughn smiled. “Hey, I know it's probably weird to ask after all that, but do you wanna go out to eat tonight? Because speaking of Yvette, she called me earlier asking if we wanted to grab something. I never gave her an answer cause you weren't home.” He paused to look at the clock projection on Rhys’ dresser. “It's not too late, lots of the good places are still open.”

 

“Ha, that's funny,” he replied. “I was just thinking about that earlier.” But as much as Rhys wanted to go, he was absolutely wrecked. Had he not had a near death encounter he probably would have said yes, but all of the stress wiped what little energy he may have had left for the day. “Sorry though bro, I think I'm gonna pass. I'm just gonna go to bed, I think? I dunno. Tired.”

 

A chuckle escaped his friend's mouth. “I totally get it. We still have all weekend anyway. I'll let Yvette know.” Vaughn tapped his fingers on the edge on the bed before hoisting himself up and returning to the other side of the room where he hopped on his computer, opening up his email. Rhys just laid back down, not even bothering to get underneath his sheets. “Night, bro,” he grumbled, flipping over to face the wall. “G'night, man,” Vaughn replied, faint beeping noises coming from his side of the room as he typed out a message.

 

Exhaustion taking over him, it didn't take long for Rhys to wade into sleep.

 

\------

 

Soft brown eyes slowly opened to a dimly lit room. Morning so soon? It felt like he'd barely slept.

 

Rhys had his head sunken deep into his solid white pillow. He didn't even need to see himself in a mirror to know his hair was a total mess. He could feel how out of place it was. He must have shifted around a lot last night. Nightmares, probably.

 

“Ugh, what time is it?” He mumbled to himself, lazily rolling over to his other side. Vaughn was already gone, he noted, seeing the empty and neatly made bed across the room. He glanced to the side to catch the time. Okay, so it wasn't exactly morning anymore. It was almost noon, actually. As much as Rhys loved sleep, he also didn't like wasting his weekends on doing so. He could be busy with so many other things, like reading or eating out with his buds or something…

 

Alright, so there wasn't really _ _that__ much he could do on his weekends that would be comfortably possible with his now-terrible income. But there had to be something more productive or satisfying than sleeping. With his old job he would actually get ahead of schedule and prep himself for the next work week. He had actually liked his old job and the work included in it. It hadn't been easy, but it kept him occupied and engaged. There wasn't much fun to be had as a janitor. The work load was both ridiculous and boring. It was disappointing to not have anything to look forward to.

 

Rhys had studied hard for many years working towards getting a programming or data mining position with Hyperion. His original job had him placed in programming, and the promotion he was supposed to have gotten would have advanced his career ever further. Unfortunately that didn't happen, and he was now stuck doing janitorial duties. It really was an insult to all of his hard work. Rhys half hoped he would get a decent job back. Anything was better than being a janitor. But he wasn't going to entertain the thought too much. With Vasquez above him now, he knew it would be incredibly difficult to advance again unless he tried switching departments entirely. It would be hard considering his skills lied within a specific area. Maybe he’d give it a shot one day, though.

 

A flashing blue light on his monitor dragged his attention away from the blinking clock he’d been staring at. He had a message, apparently. It was probably Vaughn telling him where he was at. They always liked to meet up on the weekends. Yvette would usually join them too.

 

Encouraging himself to get out of bed, Rhys stood up and yawned, stretching his arms in the air before taking a few steps to sit in the chair in front of the screen. He opened his messages, seeing there were actually a couple new ones. The first was from, of course, Vaughn. Apparently he and Yvette had already met up and were hanging around in the Hub of Heroism watching a couple dudes get into a pretty intense finger gun battle. Rhys smiled and rolled his eyes. “Such I shame I'm missing that,” he said sarcastically. He didn't reply. When he was ready to head out he'd shoot Vaughn a message.

 

The second email was from the programming department. A little odd, he thought. Opening it, he noticed it was just a bunch of attachments with plans and whatnot. Guess they forgot to take him off of the mail list for programmers. He'd have to send them a reminder later.

 

The third email seemed a bit odd. Rhys thought it was just some junk mail or some kind of prank. Since the sender's name was…

 

Handsome Jack. Checking the sender's address though, he realized that it was indeed Handsome Jack's official email. His stomach dropped and his heartbeat simultaneously increased. The CEO was probably going to tell him to come back upstairs, like ‘hey bud, forgot to kill ya last night. Woops! Please come back so I can shoot you, thanks’.

 

He swallowed hard as he tentatively opened the email, which read:

__Hey kiddo, need to talk with you. Meet me in my office in half an hour._ _

__-HJ__

 

Not too bad, he thought. It could have sounded a lot more aggressive. But why would Jack want to speak with him? It was probably going to be something about not bringing up Angel. In that case, he’d already messed up. He told Vaughn about her, and if he was with Yvette, maybe he told her already. He hoped not.

 

With a sigh, Rhys then checked the time he'd received the message. He was sure he felt his soul leave his body.

“Oh, __shit.”__

 

He was almost two hours late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, Rhysie.
> 
>  
> 
> The next chapter is already halfway done. I hope to have it up soon!


	3. Promotion #2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess who's back?  
> Sorry for the wait on an update, I know it's been forever. College has been kicking my arse. I'm back on track though, and chapters will be out much more regularly. I also have a new modern AU fic for these two in the works, so be on the lookout if you're interested.
> 
> This chapter is barely proofread because I am lazy (I'm sorry) but hopefully still enjoyable!

Rhys wasn't sure how long he'd sat there in terror and shock. Was it even worth going to Jack's office now? He was two hours late. Two whole hours! He got lucky last time, he'd barely escaped with his life. This was pushing it too far, he thought. Maybe running away to Pandora would be a better option. Hell, at this point he'd gladly take on any of the dangers that planet had to throw at him over facing the CEO. To him there was no comparison. Not that he'd ever been to Pandora, but honestly, what could possibly be worse? But no, he knew he would never even make it off of the station. He wasn't authorized for that kind of leave and Jack would undoubtedly find him sooner or later. Maybe if he moved into one of the janitorial closets he'd have a chance.

 

Taking a deep and shaken breath, he stood up, gathering what was left of his courage and making a beeline for his closet. If he was going to die, he might as well get dressed for the occasion, right?

  
  
Moving quickly now, Rhys changed into an a rather sleek outfit that consisted of black pants, a white top, and a black jacket to go over it which held the Hyperion logo in a crisp yellow-gold on the upper left side. He topped it off with a black tie and some black boots that he'd gotten only weeks ago. When he was finished dressing himself, he tidied up his hair and threw on some deodorant. There was no time for him to shower, but fortunately he'd taken one the day before. At least he __did__ shower. He could swear that a minimum of a quarter of the workers on the station never bothered.

  
  
Taking a final moment to gather himself, he nabbed his key card off the dresser next to his bed and stuffed it into his pocket as he headed for the door. The later he was to meeting with Jack, the deeper his grave would be. He'd have to hurry. Maybe if he made it before he was __three__ hours late, he'd get another chance. Are there second chances for your second chances?

 

Exiting his apartment quite possibly for the last time, Rhys jogged down the hallway. He did his best to avoid bumping into people but there wasn't always enough room to dodge his way around a group of workers, forcing him to slow down to a pace he wasn't happy with in order not to cause a scene by plowing through the crowds. He wanted to __sprint__ to Jack's office, and just the thought of having to go slower was killing him. He was about thirty minutes away from hitting the three-hours-late mark. Oh, what he wouldn't give for a nap and shuttle to Pandora.

  
  
When Rhys finally reached the elevator, he stood there quietly next to a few other workers who were patiently waiting for it to arrive. His arms were crossed and his facial features tight. He could feel his heart racing in his chest, the nervousness growing within him. The silence of his surroundings provided little comfort. He wished he were with his friends at their usual hangout, the same dull music playing faintly in the background and the sound of the busy atmosphere. Vaughn or Yvette telling some lame story that was probably super exaggerated. He wished he could be back in bed, sleeping soundly without a care in the world. He'd even prefer to be mopping the floors and arguing with random strangers, all the shouting included. Anything at all to fill his head with something other than the thought of his expiration. Of his inevitable and permanent __unemployment__.

 

As he stared at the floor in a daze, he didn't even register the usual __ding__ of the elevator as it reached their floor. What he did hear, however, was the sound of a couple people gasping in surprise, one of them creating a sound that was much closer to a shriek. He looked up and to the right where a majority of the sounds had come from. He noticed that everyone was staring towards the elevator. Why did they look so uncomfortable?

 

Rhys finally took a look for himself. He suddenly wished he hadn't.

 

There, leaning against doorway of the elevator, was none other than Handsome Jack. The older man was staring directly at him, very unamused and with arms folded. And as if that gaze in itself wasn't terrifying enough, the CEO just had to open his mouth and make it worse. “Hey Rhys. Whatcha doin', pal?” He asked. And while he didn't look around, he could __feel__ everyone staring at him now.

 

Rhys wasn't sure how to answer. Was he really supposed to explain himself in front of all these people? “I-I... uh-”

 

“You know, never mind, I don't actually care,” Jack cut him off. “Get in here,” he commanded, gesturing to the elevator. Rhys uncrossed his arms and obeyed without question, doing his best to slip past the man without touching him, which was difficult considering Jack hadn't even made an effort to make room for him to get in through the doorway. Once in the elevator, he wedged himself into one of the back corners, turning his attention to the shiny silver wall to his left. It was a lot more pleasant on the eyes than the grim reaper standing in the door.

 

Jack took a moment to bark at the other workers who had watched the scene unfold, telling them to get back to work. Most of them had scrambled around the nearest corners while a couple remained in place, too frightened to move. Totally reasonable.

 

Finally backing up, Jack allowed the doors of the elevator to close. He pressed the button for the top floor, which lit up under the pressure of his thumb. “So,” he started. Rhys visibly flinched. “Hope you were headed up to my office. Did you even see that email, kiddo?” He asked, leaning against the wall opposite of him. The younger man paused, but soon nodded, mustering up some gall to look at his superior who was already glaring at him. “Yes, sir.”

 

Jack cocked his head, his brows furrowing as the new information clearly upset him. “Yeah? Then why the hell are you three hours late? What, you think I have all the time in the world to wait around for you to show up? That it? I'm a busy man, Rhys, you can't just go _wasting my time_.”

 

Rhys terribly wanted to correct him. It hadn't been three hours __yet__. But what would the point be? Not the best time to act like a smartass. “I'm sorry, sir. I woke up late. I mean it's my weekend so I slept in, and I didn't know-,”

 

“Weekend, huh?” Jack cut him short again. “Hm, didn't know you were off. Guess that makes sense, then. Bunch of lazy asses, always sleeping in late...” The man got quieter as he'd ended the last sentence as if he were talking to himself, but Rhys had heard it all. He chose not to comment, though. With any other person he would have argued about how he definitely _was not_ lazy. But as per usual, arguing with Jack was on the very top of the 'pointless' list. Not even worth it unless you were looking to lose both life and limb.

 

Rhys was rather surprised at Jack’s behavior, though. He still appeared to be a bit peeved about the situation, but he’d accepted Rhys’ explanation without question and hadn’t thrown much of an insult. Which was good. Odd, but good. He had been expecting to get his ear chewed off by the end of the elevator ride, but the silence between them held. It calmed Rhys down. Maybe what he was going up there for wasn’t actually going to be as horrible as he’d thought.

 

Rhys did his best to keep his eyes away from Jack, who was watching the numbers rise on the indicator as they ascended floors. When they finally arrived, Jack was the first to get off. He waited for Rhys to join him before he began walking down the hallway towards his office. Rhys followed closely behind, and it wasn't long before Jack broke the silence.

 

“So, kiddo, I have something important to discuss with you in a bit here, but first I gotta let someone else have a chat with you, mkay?”

 

“Yeah, uh. Yes sir.” Rhys nodded. Someone wanted to talk with him?

 

“Great. Well, she's in my office, so head on in,” he stated, pointing down the hall to the large doorway at the very end. “Door's unlocked. I've got a call to make but I'll be in there shortly. Would have been totally free earlier, but y'know, someone had to be _late_ ,” he said with an emphasis, obviously planting the blame on the younger male. _What an asshole_ , Rhys thought. He assumed it was some sort of joke. After all, Jack had easily accepted his excuse already, but it was hard to tell if the guy was still mad or not since he had such a pissed off and serious look on his face a majority of the time. Although considering he had to run Hyperion and every idiot within it, Rhys couldn't blame him.

 

Jack veered off to the left somewhere, calling someone almost immediately. Rhys could faintly hear his voice even as he reached the office doors. The guy was loud by nature. Probably a good thing for such a leadership position. Although the whole 'do what I say or I'll kill you' thing seemed just as effective.

 

Rhys gave a couple knocks on the door before entering, just to be polite to whoever it was on the inside. He'd never been in Jack's office before. In his dreams, maybe, but never in person. And it was just as impressive as he could have imagined, if not more so.

 

As soon as the doors opened, he looked straight down the middle where there was a path that went between two railed off pools of water on both sides. At the far end was Jack's desk, and behind it a huge window featuring a gorgeous view of Elpis. On the far right side was a small wall of books and what looked like a little area for reading that had a few comfy looking chairs and a couch surrounding a coffee table. A few books were sprawled around here and there. Did Jack read? Rhys had never taken him for the reading type. Not for any particular reason, but he just couldn't imagine seeing such a man sitting on a chair just reading a book. Never judge by the cover, apparently.

 

On the far left side of the office there was a little shelving area full of various items and weapons. Some of the things on the shelves looked interesting. And by interesting, that meant that he had absolutely no idea what those items were. It was hard to tell from such a distance. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know. If he knew Jack like he thought he did, chances were they were just some oddly shaped weapons.

 

Putting aside the odd-yet-fascinating choice of architecture and the weird assortment of stuff around the room, one thing was for certain. Jack's office was nice. _Really_ nice. Rhys only wished he could have one just like it. Just standing in such a space gave him a sense of power. It was a shame he'd likely never work out of such an area.

 

In the midst of his daydreaming, Rhys suddenly heard an excited voice call to him somewhere to his left from the closest corner of the room. He'd yet to look over there. As soon as he turned to see who it was, he was met with a small child colliding into his side and giving him and strong hug.

 

It was Angel.

 

“Hey, look who it is!” Rhys exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face. He knelt onto the cold, solid floor so he could be closer to her height level. Considering he didn't know her that well, he was surprised how friendly she was with him. Not that he was complaining. Her presence was just as refreshing as before.

 

“Hanging out with your dad today I see,” he noted. She released her hug and nodded.

 

“Yeah! I get to come here sometimes, it's really fun. I usually gotta be quiet though. Dad's on the phone almost all the time,” she frowned a little, but her smile returned quickly. “That's okay though.”

 

There was a brief moment of silence before the girl apparently remember something. “Oh, _oh_! Rhys, come here!” She demanded excitedly, suddenly tugging roughly at his left hand.

 

“Woah, okay, okay,” Rhys chuckled, standing up again and allowing her to pull him along. “What's up?”

 

She lead him to the left side of the room where there was a mostly empty space, only occupied by a small stack of blank printer paper and a couple boxes of crayons and markers. A few pieces of paper were spread out around the area. When they got close enough, Rhys noticed that several of the papers had little scribbles on them. Doodles, actually. Some of them were actually recognizable. For her age, she wasn't bad at all. He was actually rather impressed. Rhys would like to call himself an artist also, but his stick figures would say otherwise.

 

Angel knelt down and began hastily shuffling through some of the drawings. She would pick one up, then place it to the side. She'd pick up another and do the same thing, and Rhys looked at each of them from where he was standing behind her. A few of the drawings depicted birds. Or at least what looked like birds. Others showed some people he didn't recognize. The next one... was that a diamond horse? The one he spotted after that made him grin. It featured a woman with blue hair in a very familiar style. It was definitely Maya. Very briefly he wondered where she was, but his thoughts were interrupted by a soft gasp. “Here it is!” Angel was looking at one of the drawings intently.

 

“Whaddya got there?” Rhys asked, trying to lean over and peak over her shoulder. She swirled around before he could see. She was smiling even wider now. He hadn't thought it possible.

 

“I made you something! I was so worried I wouldn't be able to give it to you. Dad said you were supposed to be here way earlier,” she stated, holding the piece of paper close to her chest. “I'm glad dad found you though! I asked him to go get you, you know.”

 

Rhys chuckled nervously at that. “Oh really? Well, he found me.”

 

“Yep! It took a lot of convincing. He said to forget it, but I really wanted to give you this,” she said, tentatively holding out the paper. The top of it flopped over and he could see some thick, scribbly lines in the color blue. “I hope you like it... I spent lots of time on it.”

 

He took the paper graciously, gripping it on the top with a few fingers and bringing it up to look at it. On the paper was a drawing of none other than himself, smiling confidently with one hand on his hip like the pose he had jokingly struck the day they'd met. On the top were the thicker blue lines he had previously mistaken for scribbles. It was actually a word written in all capitals:

 

'H E R O'.

 

 _Oh my god_ , Rhys thought, looking the image over again and again and soaking it in with a sense of pride. _This is too cute._

 

“Wow, Angel, this is really good!” He finally said. “I really love it.”

 

“You do?” She asked hopefully. At this point he could swear he saw a sparkle in her eyes.

 

“Of course,” he said reassuringly. “It's perfect.” He held the drawing in his left hand and placed his right hand on hip. With a grin, he asked, “You think I'm a hero, huh?”

 

That made her laugh.

 

While he _was_ joking around, Rhys truly appreciated the gift. It was thoughtful and innocent. He was amazed that he'd made such an impact on her, although he realized what he'd done was probably a bigger deal to her than to him. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but the moment was put on pause by the sound of the office doors opening. Handsome Jack walked in.

 

Oh boy.

 

Glancing around, the CEO soon locked onto them in the corner of the room. “Ah, there you are,” he said, making his way over to them. Approaching the two, he obviously eyed Rhys with a bit of disdain, the mismatched eyes judging him at all times. He then looked down at the paper in his hands, then to Angel, and finally back to Rhys. “I see you two had your little chat already.”

 

“Mhm!” Angel replied, oblivious to the uneasiness between the two men. “Dad, he likes my picture,” she beamed. Jack patted her on the head and gave her a gentle smile. “Told you he would, sweetheart.” She giggled. If only he treated the rest of Hyperion like that.

 

“Anyway Rhys,” Jack began, bringing Rhys to attention. “Come over to my desk.”

 

“Y-yes, sir,” he replied with a quick nod.

 

Angel started to follow them as well, but Jack halted her. “Nuh uh, nope. Angel, remember what I told you?”

 

She frowned. “Talk alone... fine,” she mumbled, going back to the corner and plopping down onto the floor. Rhys watched her pluck a fresh piece of paper from the stack and place it in front of herself, picking up a crayon and getting to work.

 

“Come _on_ Rhys. Gotta make it quick or I'm gonna be late to another meeting,” the CEO reminded him, gesturing impatiently up towards his desk.

 

“Sorry, sir.” The other said quietly, turning away from Angel.

 

The two soon reached the desk and Rhys stopped in front of it, glancing out the window to admire the view as his superior went around the opposite side to sit down in what was clearly a luxurious chair. He sat down lazily with an audible _thump_ before scooting it forward a bit so he could rest his elbows on the surface of the work space and lean his head on his hands. He cleared his throat, and the fact that Rhys wasn't paying attention to him was frustrating to say the least. He was looking past him, out the window no doubt. He knew how addicting the view was, but now wasn't the time. Maybe he'd let the kid stare another day, but he had shit to get done.

 

“ _Rhys_. Over here, pal.”

 

The younger male snapped to attention again. “Um, sorry.” Jack raised an eyebrow.

 

“S-Sorry, _sir_ ,” Rhys corrected himself hurriedly. Jack just rolled his eyes this time.

 

“Well before you have a heart attack, I wanted to bring up a little proposal to you.”

 

“A proposal, sir?” Rhys questioned, ignoring the stale humor.

 

Jack took a deep breath and exhaled with exaggeration. “If you say sir one more time, I swear I'm going to shoot you.”

 

“I-”

 

“Shut _up_ , Rhys.”

 

Rhys opened his mouth to protest but ended up stopping himself. He was __trying__ to be respectful, you know, so he wouldn't get his head blown off. But apparently it was creating the opposite effect.

 

“Anyway, this is about a promotion,” Jack continued, and Rhys was suddenly appalled. Well, __more__ appalled. Had he just said _promotion_?

 

“What?” He blurted out.

 

“A promotion, kiddo. Of the assistant sort.”

 

An assistant position? Technically he was an assistant already. _Assistant_ vice janitor, a real killer of a title. But wait, had he done something wrong? What assistant position was lower than janitor? Was there an assistant vice paper stapler job he wasn't aware of? A million unanswered questions scoured his brain. He didn't know what to say or how to respond. Jack had said promotion, but the last time Rhys heard that word it had the opposite effect. He wasn’t sure what to think.

 

Before Rhys could produce any sort of answer, Jack grew tired of the silence and opted to clarify further.

 

“Alright, let me lay it on you nice and simple. I'm offering you a job as my personal assistant. Cool, right? You in? Ha! Of course you are. Let me get the papers out,” Jack confirmed, not even waiting for a reaction before he pulled open the drawer to his right.

 

If Rhys had a drink, he would have choked on it. Gladly, in fact. Jack wanted him to be his PA. His _personal assistant_. Why in the hell would the man choose him? There had to be a million people way more qualified than he was. Besides, the guy already had one, didn't he?

 

“Wait, I... just wait. Please. This is too much,” Rhys said, obviously uncomfortable. He wasn't sure he liked the idea at all. No, he was certain he didn't. “What about your other assistant? Why do you need two?”

 

“Sensing a little bit of ingratitude here, Rhys. Huh? Thought I'd hear an 'oh, thank you Jack, you're so amazing, of course I'll be your PA!', not a game of frikkin' 20Q.” Jack had piled a few papers onto the desk, taking a pen out of the drawer as well. He pushed the forms towards Rhys.

 

“No!” Rhys was quick to defend himself as he saw the papers slide his way. He didn't want this, it didn’t feel right. Just yesterday Jack had planned to kill him, and now he was offering him a PA job. It had to be some kind of sick joke.

 

Of course, Jack's brow furrowed at the response. One of his fingers tapped on the desk now.

 

_Shit._

 

“I mean, I'm thankful, very thankful. But that's a bit... Jack, er, Handsome Jack sir, that's kind of, um,” Rhys cleared his throat nervously. He had to make an excuse. Any excuse at all. “Isn't that job way above my credentials?” He asked, his frustration and panic rising. He'd give anything to be as far away from the man as possible, and now he was practically being forced into a job position that would have him plastered to his side half the time. No way!

 

There was an immediate burst of laughter from the CEO. Not just a little chuckle, no. An all out bellowing laugh that reverberated through Rhys' very soul. He hated it. “ _Haha_ , oh shit kiddo, _oh my god_ , you're joking, right? Credentials? For a job like that?”

 

Rhys' face was probably red. The outburst had thrown him over the edge. It was true, now that he thought about it. Being a personal assistant was never too hard of a task. It was pretty much the same general stuff no matter how high up you were in the ranks. Rhys was frustrated, though. He didn’t understand any of it, and rightly so, because none of it made sense.

 

He also hated how Jack got everything he wanted. How damn smug he was, and how he used threats and fear to manipulate people into doing his bidding. He'd never experienced it first hand up until now, and he absolutely despised it. He felt frustrated, scared, and humiliated. He'd had _enough_.

 

“Why me?!” He shouted angrily, catching Jack completely off guard. Angel too, apparently. She'd jumped, looking up to assess what was going on. Rhys hadn't noticed since he was facing the opposite direction, but Jack definitely had. He shushed the other man, giving him a deadly look and using his eyes and a short tilt of the head to refer to Angel. Rhys understood, realizing in full now what he’d done. Yet in his flustered state he only crossed his arms and looked away from the CEO. He just wanted to go home. He’d rather be literally anywhere else. After spending much of the previous day – as well as his entire morning – fearing for his life, he was done. He needed answers. He _deserved_ them.

 

But Jack was done playing too. It was the job or the kid's life. “Sit the _fuck_ down,” he commanded quietly, using the pen to point to a chair behind Rhys. The other reluctantly cooperated. After his little explosion of emotion he was a bit calmer, but he didn't feel any better about the situation. He felt sick.

 

“You wanna know why I want you, Rhys? Because that little girl over there,” Jack pointed in Angel's direction with the pen now, “really likes you.”

 

Rhys glanced over to Angel, who had returned to drawing. Looking back to Jack, however, he still wasn't sure he understood. “What does making me your PA have to do with Angel liking me?”

 

“My other dumbass of a PA treated her like dirt, so I killed him. I need a new one.”

 

“That doesn't answer my question,” Rhys protested.

 

Jack groaned and rubbed at his temples, setting the pen down on top of the papers. “Look, asshole. I can schedule my own meetings, I can get my own coffee, I can do all the shit my PAs do for me and more. I don't need help running my own damn company. Sure, it can be nice having to do less, but the point is I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for _her_.”

 

Rhys sat in silence for a moment. “Wait, you want to hire me... for Angel?” He looked at the drawing he'd been holding onto. His eyes scanned over the word 'hero' again. His gaze softened and his frustrations began to fade. _“_ This still doesn't make sense.”

 

“I hate you, honestly,” Jack said bluntly.

 

Rhys blinked. “ _Okay_?”

 

“Angel doesn't really like anyone on Helios either, save for a couple other members of my team. But do you know how many times she demanded to see you yesterday? Drove me fuckin' nuts.”

 

“I'm sorry, I still don't understand. I get that she wants to see me, but why not just have me visit her somewhere instead of hiring me as a PA?”

 

Jack reached his hand across the desk and pushed the papers a bit closer to Rhys. “Again, I don't need a PA _ _.__ But I can't just keep you around for no reason. Loss of productivity if you aren't doing some sort of job. And I've seen your work records, kid. As much as I'd love to shoot you between the eyes, that'd be a loss too. Two rakks with one bullet, y'know? And she’d have to meet you here anyway. I don’t want her wandering around Helios.”

 

“Thank you? I guess?” Rhys wasn't sure if he should be offended or grateful over the remark.

 

Jack shrugged. “With that out of the way, be a good little PA and do as I say now, okay?” He pointed to the forms on the desk, still untouched.

 

“But...”

 

“Rhys, _holy fuck _.__ Just sign the damn papers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! More to come soon. :>  
> For real this time, haha.


	4. Better Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow hey, an update. If you missed it, I've been rewriting this fic a bit. Trying to tidy it up a little I guess.  
> I'm a lil rusty on my writing, but the next chapter is finally here, yayyy.  
> After a long wait, this fic is finally continuing!

Rhys had signed the papers.

 

 

It wasn’t really a choice. Had he not signed them, Jack probably would have walked him out and blasted him straight into space from the nearest airlock. _I hate you_ , the man had said. Yeah, that was something you really wanted to hear from the one guy on Helios that was infamous for spontaneous murder. Not to mention he now had to see the man every single day, with the exception of some weekends. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t be called in though. He always had to be ready to show up. On just his third night, Jack had called him up to his office at four in the morning. Four in the _damn_ morning. And for what? To help him find a file that was literally labeled and perfectly visible in one of the man’s drawers. Rhys still had no idea how he’d missed it. He thought that maybe he did it on purpose, just to be a dick. He could have sworn he saw the man crack a smile.

 

His new job was a lot of work and in some cases incredibly ridiculous, but it wasn’t as if his new title as Jack’s personal assistant didn’t come without perks.

 

He found it funny how others looked at him now, almost as if he were just as terrifying as Jack. Word had spread very quickly about Rhys’ new position. He didn’t understand it at first, but soon realized that the fear was reasonable considering he could directly report any misconduct to the CEO. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t feel kind of good to be looked upon as a superior, even if he still wasn’t sure he agreed with being given the job to begin with. He’d always been low on the totem pole, constantly overworking himself to achieve greater things and barely getting any recognition aside from a pay bonus here or there. Not even a pat on the back. Not to mention the huge blow of a demotion he had received prior. But now? Now he felt _respected_. Assistant vice janitor be damned, he was the CEO’s personal assistant! He couldn’t help but laugh, however, at the fact that he was essentially the glorified version of a babysitter.

 

Whenever Rhys wasn’t doing office work he would spend time with Angel. She was, after all, the main reason Jack had hired him. It was easy to tell she didn’t have many friends. Aside from Maya and her father, and maybe a bodyguard or two she regularly poked fun at, she never mentioned anyone else. Maybe that was why she had pestered her dad so much to see him again after Rhys reunited them. She wanted a friend, which was a reasonable request considering her age. Maybe an older kid would find more appreciation in the joys of silence and alone time, but Angel was young. It was good for her, and completely normal that she wanted to have friends to spend time with. He understood why, being the CEO’s daughter, she wasn’t really allowed to hang out with others. She was important, and it was likely some idiot would come along eventually and use her to get to Jack if they ever found out who she was. That, and there were few to no other kids on Helios. Not that he’d seen anyway.

 

He and Angel spent a pretty good amount of time together. They would usually hang around in Jack’s office or somewhere in the hallway outside of it, playing games or drawing pictures. Sometimes if Angel begged enough, they were even allowed to go out and get food, but only if they did so quickly and quietly. Rhys found it strange that Jack would trust him with his daughter like that, but perhaps after bringing her back in one piece the first time he took it a bit more into consideration.

 

Now and then Maya would show up as well and get dragged into whatever their current activity was, but she was absent more often than not, probably off somewhere else on Helios doing whatever the heck it was she did. The whole thing was still so surreal to Rhys. His new position hardly felt like a job at all unless the work load with Jack was large, which it rarely was. At least for Rhys. Jack was normally very busy.

 

Roughly, it had been about three weeks since Rhys had started his new life as the personal assistant of Hyperion’s CEO. He was fairly settled into it now. Hell, he even got his own little desk in Jack’s office. It was pretty damn cool, honestly. It was just a shabby metal desk with several rusted edges, and it would tilt unsteadily if too much weight was put onto the left side of it, _and_ it was shoved into the farthest corner away from Jack’s side of the room as physically possible, but it was still pretty nice. The view was great thanks to the huge space window in the room, and aside from the occasional heated phone calls or meetings Jack got involved with, it was pretty silent as well. It gave him a chance to really focus on his work. He dared to admit he _liked_ his job, much to the contrary of the first impressions.

 

The initial week of the job had been tough. The first thing he had done was move all of his junk to his new desk in Jack’s office. That had taken a day all in itself. He didn’t even realize how much stuff he’d kept in his desk until he had to take it all out and relocate it. It did give him a chance to get rid of a bunch of junk he didn’t need anymore, though.

 

Once that was done, he spent the next few days learning about his job entirely on his own. Jack was no help at all in his training. Not that he was surprised. Luckily, Rhys was pretty good at picking up tasks he realized he’d need to do. Jack would mention something here or there, and being the good little PA he was, Rhys would pick out what he thought was important from what Jack told him and would make a note of it. It didn’t take him too long before he was constantly up to date, and sometimes even ahead of schedule. As easy as it was for him, he couldn’t blame all of the other personal assistants for wanting out. Handsome Jack was a great leader, but not much of a cooperative office companion. Rhys was afraid that if he couldn’t keep up Jack would just get sick of him and toss him out, or maybe even kill him. Fortunately, it hadn’t come to that yet.

 

Jack was no easy character to get along with, though. He was always bitter and rude in his actions towards Rhys. The assistant tried to pay it no mind. After all, it’s not like they ever agreed to get along. Angel never noticed their discontent towards each other either, so there really wasn’t too much of a problem. It did get uncomfortable though, realizing that he had no one to really chat with during the day like he used to. Unless he was with Angel or out grabbing lunch, Rhys was essentially stuck in the quiet office with Jack all day long. Sometimes he wished the guy was more friendly so he could at least have a light conversation here or there. He didn’t even like approaching the CEO to ask a question or discuss scheduling. Just trying to hand the man his coffee in the morning felt comparable to sticking his hand into a bag of pissed off snakes. Quite obviously, working with someone who you know hates your guts is a bit unnerving, especially when there wasn’t much that could be done to remedy the situation. But Rhys wanted it to work out. He was determined to prove himself worthy of the position. To show it wasn’t just dumb luck like some were assuming. Some days certainly proved to be a challenge, though. And apparently, some a nightmare.

 

 

“Hey, Rhys,” a disinterested voice called from across the office. It was Jack, of course.

 

“Yeah?” Rhys asked, glancing over at the corner of his screen to check the time. It was nearly eleven at night. The PA had left Angel with Maya hours ago so she could bring the poor kid to bed after she’d fallen asleep on the floor during a rather peculiar game she’d made up. _Rakks and Raiders_ , she had called it. It wasn’t much of a game, it just involved her drawing a bunch of raiders on a piece of paper before handing it to him, and Rhys would use his shamefully limited artistic skills to draw rakks attacking said raiders. She thought it was the greatest game in the world though, so he was happy to play along. Since Angel had left for bed though, Rhys had just been organizing some files in the system so he had an easier time navigating. He had already finished the work Jack had given him anyway. It was pretty boring, but apparently occupying enough for him to lose track of the time.

 

“Come here,” Jack demanded. Rhys hesitated a moment before scooting his chair back and standing, walking over to Jack’s desk at a moderate pace. When he got there, the CEO didn’t even acknowledge him. In fact, he wasn’t really doing anything. It was like he was just staring at the screen in front of him, daydreaming. Or perhaps just in deep thought.

 

“Sir?” Rhys inquired, taking one step closer. That was his first mistake though, because as he did, Jack swiveled quickly in his chair and reached out to grab him roughly by his left arm before practically throwing him against the side of the desk and pinning him there with his back arched over painfully. The hand not holding his arm reached up to restrain his throat. It _hurt_ , and he couldn’t help the pained gasp that escaped from his mouth. “Ow, fuck... J-Jack,” he choked out. “W-what-”

 

“I don’t get you.” Jack spoke above him, anger clear in his tone. “What’s your _fucking_ problem?”

 

But Rhys was too preoccupied to understand what Jack had asked him. He struggled against the grip, using his right arm to try prying the man’s large hand off of his neck. The grip Jack had was incredible, and it sucked. He could feel himself suffocating under the pressure, and he wondered if this is what Jack had intended for him all along. “I don’t, what, _Jack_ , I-,” he coughed. “I can’t _breathe_.”

 

Jack grunted and the grip loosened a bit, but not enough that Rhys could feel better about it. He tried his best to look at the man, his brown eyes wide and full of confusion. “Jack, please, what are you doing?” He questioned in his ever growing panic. Had he done something wrong or upset him somehow? He couldn’t think of a single thing. Jack had always immediately corrected his mistakes. And it wasn’t like he’d made any terrible ones. Not once had Jack come back later to discuss his wrongdoings, so Rhys didn’t have a single clue where such an intense reaction could have risen from.

 

“What… what did I do?” The PA asked carefully, his efforts to escape diminishing. There was no point in trying to get away. Jack easily overpowered him.

 

“What did you do? What did you _do_?” Jack’s voice rose the more he spoke. “That’s just the problem, _Rhys_ , you do way too fucking much, and I don’t fucking get it. It pisses me off.” The CEO released Rhys now, who didn’t move a muscle out of fear of further punishment. “And you know what else? Not once, not one single time, have you made a shitty ass mistake. What is up with that?”

 

Rhys was speechless. Jack was mad at him because he was… doing his job?

 

“I’ve been waiting for you to fuck up since day one so I could have some excuse to get rid of you, but you haven’t given me anything.”

 

_Oh_. So that was it. Rhys couldn’t say he was surprised. Jack hated him, after all. Of course he’d want him gone. Maybe he needed an excuse for Angel. It made no sense that he’d hire him in the first place just to immediately attempt to chase him off, though. Knowing Jack, he probably just got sick of having Rhys around and changed his mind, which was absolutely ridiculous.

 

Rhys’ fear was being replaced with an irritation of his own. Anger was a deadly thing. It gave him a confidence he otherwise would have known to keep to himself.

 

“Was I supposed to give you a reason to fire me?” Rhys asked bluntly, finally moving away from the desk and straightening himself out before looking up and locking fearsome eyes with Jack. “Did you really _want_ me to screw up your schedule? Fuck up your meetings and plans?”

 

Jack was giving him a look of deadly intent now.

 

“I’m just doing my _job_ , Jack. If you don’t want me around, then get rid of me. It’s not that hard.”

 

“Trust me, pal. If it weren’t for Angel, you’d _already_ be dead,” Jack retorted.

 

“ _Gee_ , how generous of you to spare me solely for the sake of your daughter,” Rhys replied, turning around and storming over to his desk, throwing his arms up in the air for a moment. “Glad to know you care so much for your employees.”

 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Jack yelled, stepping out from behind his desk as he realized his assistant was gathering his belongings.

 

“I’m going _home_. It’s _late_.”

 

“The hell you are. No way you finished all your shit already, not with that workload I gave you today.”

 

Rhys scoffed. “Yeah? Check again,” he shouted back, packing up his things with haste. “I was done two hours ago.”

 

Reaching across the desk to his monitor, Jack rushed to look in the system with hopes he could prove the kid wrong. Unfortunatelyhe found that Rhys had indeed finished all of his assigned tasks and had started on some extras. Damn his attentiveness.

 

He let out a low growl. “Fine, whatever! Get the hell out, then!”

 

Rhys shot him quite a nasty look. “Gladly,” he said. He could have sworn he saw Jack pop a blood vessel. Quite frankly, he was amazed he made it out of the office alive.

 

 

 

\------

 

 

 

“I can’t go back.”

 

“Bro, you have to. It’s kinda your job.”

 

“Vaughn, I don’t think you understand what I did last night.”

 

“I mean, all you did was talk back to – or was it insult? – Handsome Jack. No big deal.”

 

“Not funny, man.”

 

Rhys was curled up on his bed, still wearing his clothes from the night before. When he’d gotten back to his apartment he’d just tossed his things down and passed out right away. Next thing he knew he was waking up to Vaughn’s alarm at five thirty in the morning and hadn’t moved since. It was six fifteen now, and he was supposed to be getting ready for another spectacular day of work, but after talking to Vaughn for a while about how dead he was, he decided he _really_ didn’t want to go.

 

“Can you take a sick day or something?” Vaughn asked as he slipped on a pair of shoes and neatly tied the laces. Rhys gave a sarcastic laugh. “I just started my job a few weeks ago. I really doubt I’d have sick time built up yet.”

 

“Did it not transfer over from your other job, er, jobs?”

 

“Nope.”

 

Vaughn stood up and stretched before picking up some things he had placed on his bed. Key card, a couple snack bars, his wallet, and so on. “Damn, that sucks. What’re you going to do?”

 

“Die, I guess.” Rhys groaned, and Vaughn laughed.

 

“Bro, if he didn’t kill you on the way out I doubt he’d do it now. Just go.”

 

Rhys sighed and sat up in bed, hanging his legs over the side and rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Yeah, that’s veeery reassuring, thanks.”

 

“I feel for you man. But I think he’d be more peeved if you didn’t show up at all, you know?”

 

Rhys just shrugged in defeat. “I guess.”

 

Vaughn gave him a sympathetic smile. “Anyway, I gotta head out. I’ll see you later, okay? Good luck, bro.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Go count your numbers you big nerd,” Rhys teased and Vaughn chuckled as he exited the apartment.

 

After his friend left, Rhys probably sat on that bed for another ten minutes before he finally got up, changing into a fresh set of clothes, colors a mixture of blue and black with the usual hint of Hyperion’s standard yellow. He took a seat in front of his computer and opened up his email as he did every morning. _Nothing interesting_ , he noted. There were a few junk emails, which he trashed right away, and that was it.

 

Gathering up his items and whatever he thought he’d need for the day, Rhys reluctantly headed out. He first traveled to the usual coffee spot and picked up a chai latte for himself, and for Jack the typical black-as-his-soul brew. At least with his new salary it was easy to pay for the coffee each morning. It would be hard if he were making any less considering Jack didn’t reimburse him for it. Technically he didn’t have to bring his boss coffee unless he asked for it, but he thought it was a nice gesture. After last night he wasn’t sure if he should still be mad or not. Probably not, he thought. That’s just how Jack was after all. He’d signed up for it.

 

Holding the two drinks in the cardboard container he was given, he shuffled through the morning crowd to get to the elevator. He got to the top floor eventually, making his way down the long stretch of hallway before reaching the end. He tried opening the doors, but they were still locked. Apparently Jack hadn’t arrived yet, go figure. Rhys rolled his eyes. That man always stayed up way too late, he thought.

 

Pulling out the access card Jack had given him back when he’d started, Rhys swiped it in the lock panel and he heard a click before the doors slid open. He walked over to Jack’s desk first, dropping off his coffee before making his way over to his own space and setting his things down. He sat down dramatically and with a grunt, leaning back and staring at the ceiling with his arms hanging lazily to his sides. It was bound to be an awful day. Jack was probably going to treat him like shit after last night. He had a bunch of meetings scheduled for today as well, meaning he was going to be in a worse mood than usual. Jack hated meetings, Rhys knew. A lot of them didn’t end well.

 

Only about fifteen or so minutes after Rhys had gotten into the office, Jack arrived, and to his surprise he had Angel in tow.

 

“Good morning,” Rhys said quietly. Jack didn’t even look at him. Angel on the other hand was very happy to see him.

 

“Rhys! Good morning!” She beamed, leaving her father’s side to make her way over to him.

 

Jack cleared his throat. “Angel, I told you, you have to wait an hour or two before you can play with him, kay? We’ve got stuff to do.”

 

“I know, I’m just saying hi,” she mumbled, making a disappointed face.

 

“Don’t worry Angel,” Rhys started. “We’ll play lots of fun games when your dad and I are done with our boring adult stuff.”

 

“Okay, okay.” With a giggle, Angel made her way to her usual corner that was opposite of Rhys’, sitting down and immediately digging through the backpack she always left over there. Rhys returned to his work as well, glaring at the computer like it was his arch enemy as he typed away and moved a bunch of files around.

 

Jack’s first meeting had come and gone. He talked with a department head for maybe ten minutes about why he wasn’t going to give them any more funds until the next month, and the guy had left nearly in tears. Rhys felt sorry for him. _I feel that, man. I do._ He had thought. It was like Jack’s sole purpose in life was to torment those below him.

 

The second meeting, however, lasted a bit longer. Ironically it was with someone from programming. Someone he’d worked with before, actually, but didn’t know very well. He was a pretty thickly built fellow with some scruff around the chin. All Rhys could remember was that the guy had one hell of a temper. He bumped into him once and he dropped maybe one paper off of a stack he was carrying and he lost his shit. Honestly not a fun experience.

 

Somehow Rhys had neglected to write down what the meeting with him was about. He didn’t like doing it for Jack, since the CEO didn’t care, but rather he did it for himself so he could judge how horribly the encounter would go and how long he expected to be distracted by Jack’s yelling. Although Rhys had to admit the man was being rather tame today. Probably because he knew his daughter was in the room and he was trying not to make a scene in front of her. Apparently the programmer he was meeting with thought otherwise, though.

 

“What the hell do you mean you can’t give us more time?” The stranger shouted. Rhys looked up to investigate. The man was leaning over Jack’s desk with one finger pointed at him. “We’ve worked for months on this project and you’re telling us you’re just giving up on it because of a deadline? Do you know how many hours I put into it? I’ve been doing overnights for weeks now because of this! You’re telling me it was all for nothing?!”

 

“ _Easy_ there, pal,” Jack warned dangerously, peering at Angel from the corner of his eye. Rhys looked at her too, sensing the change in atmosphere. She appeared to be getting increasingly uncomfortable.

 

Rhys put a pause on his work, standing up quietly and making his way over to Angel. He wasn’t about to let that asshole ruin her day over a deadline he failed to meet.

 

“You okay?” He whispered, kneeling down next to where she was and being careful not to kneel on top of any of her things.

 

“Yeah,” she nodded, looking towards the stranger and her father for a moment before looking back to Rhys. “He seems mean.”

 

With a nod, Rhys sat down in full next to Angel, talking with her in a hushed voice as to not interrupt. “Yeah, sometimes people get mad when they can’t get what they want,” he stated, somewhat smirking when his words reminded him of how he felt about Jack. A lot of people were actually pretty similar to the CEO. They just didn’t have the power to do anything.

 

But some sure did _try_.

 

After a couple more minutes of shouting, there was a sudden loud _bang_ that reverberated through the room. Angel shrieked and Rhys jumped up instinctively, getting ready to rip Jack a new one for shooting some poor bastard in Angel’s presence, because like hell that was acceptable. However, his eyes instantly caught a glimpse of Jack ducking under his desk and he froze. It wasn’t him that fired a gun, it was the _employee_.

 

“Get _out here_ you damn _coward_!” The man screamed, firing another ear piercing shot behind the desk and hitting the floor. The action caused Rhys to flinch backwards before he ducked down, trying to get out of sight. How the hell had he even managed to get that gun past the sensors in the doorway? The only people that were allowed to have weapons in his office were Jack himself, Maya, and Rhys, although he never carried one on him. He’d never fired a gun before in his life.

 

“You’re making a _big_ mistake, buddy!” Jack retaliated from under his desk. Rhys really hoped the CEO had a gun on him. But then again, he probably did. When did he not?

 

Turning his attention to Angel, who was backed into the corner now, Rhys scooted closer to her and held a finger to his mouth, insisting she be quiet. She was shaking and holding her hands to her ears, eyes tearing up from fear, but she nodded nonetheless.

 

He had to get her out. It definitely wasn’t safe, and in the back of his mind he prayed that the guy forgot they were there. If he was after Jack, that would be his main focus, right? Even if he was an asshole, he hated the thought of leaving Jack, but he was a tough son of a bitch. He should be fine, Rhys thought. Getting Angel out was far more important.

 

“Angel, listen to me,” Rhys said quietly, grasping her hands in his own and pulling them down to make sure she could hear him. “We have to go, okay? We need to get out.”

 

She looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. “R-Rhys...”

 

“It’s gonna be okay, Angel, I promise. You have to trust me. We’re gonna go to the door, and we’re going to get out.”

 

“W-what about dad?” She asked. “Rhys, I don’t know if-”

 

He shook her head and hushed her. “Your dad is going to be just fine. He’s _the_ Handsome Jack, right?” With a reassuring smile, he held out on of his hands. She hesitated, but soon nodded and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.

 

Rhys checked the scene to their left beyond the railings and pools of water. Jack was trying to fire back now, and the gunman was still focused on that particular fight. There were a lot of harsh words being exchanged between the two of them, but with his mind focused on getting Angel out of there, he didn’t bother listening in.

 

“Alright, here we go. Be brave, Angel. We’ll be okay.” Keeping the girl behind him, he ushered her to stay low as they began sneaking their way over to the right to where the door was. If they could just get out and make it to the locked closet around the corner in the hallway, he could hide them in there while he called for help.

 

They made it to the door easily enough, Rhys never taking his eyes off of the threat. Angel stayed behind him the entire time, trying to cover her ears from the noise. They were almost home free, at least until the doors opened behind them when they got close enough. Curse automatic doors, Rhys thought. The sound must have been loud enough among the rest of the noise that it drew the enraged employee’s attention, and his _gun_ , towards them.

 

“Not so fast!” The man yelled, aiming his gun in their direction.

 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Rhys winced. The man opened fire, and not even stopping to think, the PA turned around and hurriedly shoved Angel out the door, nearly knocking the poor thing over. She kept moving forward in a panicked run, stopping a little ways down the hall where she hid around a corner. Rhys, on the other hand, didn’t follow her. “Rhys?” Angel yelled quietly, looking worriedly around the corner. “Rhys! Come one!” She didn’t understand why he’d stopped. Not at first, anyway.

 

The assistant was standing there with his back still to the doorway, staring at his right arm and shoulder. They hurt, he realized. They hurt a lot. And he was starting to feel really dizzy. Why was he so dizzy?

 

Jack must have realized the disgruntled employee had turned around, because it wasn’t long before he poked his head out from behind his desk and fired his own gun, the programmer instantaneously dropping to the ground, unmoving.

 

“God damn piece of shit,” Jack grumbled, rubbing a hand over his hair as he stood up straight and put his gun away. Then his head jerked up in realization. He looked frantically to his right, to the corner where Angel and Rhys had been. They weren’t there. But then he spotted the doorway, which was wide open. He saw Angel coming down the hall toward the office, and Rhys was, for some reason, standing in the doorway. No, scratch that, he was now ungracefully seated. Jack figured he was just too scared to move, not that he gave a damn about that.

 

“ _Angel_!” He yelled, quite literally leaping over his desk and making a beeline for the exit. “Angel, sweetheart, you okay?!”

 

But she didn’t answer him. She didn’t even _look_ at him. What the hell? Instead she stopped in front of Rhys, nearly collapsing onto her knees in front of him. “Rhys!” He heard her say loudly. She only looked at Jack when she noticed him coming their way, and the way she looked at him nearly ripped him apart. In all his years he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her look this distraught. Her eyes were red and there was a steady stream of tears flowing down her cheek. “D-daddy, Rhys needs help,” she weeped. And that’s when Jack got a closer look.

 

“Oh,” he loudly sucked in a breath. “ _Damn_.” Jack blurted out. Looking at the kid’s right shoulder he actually gritted his teeth. That looked like it _hurt_. The guy’s shoulder and arm had been shot, both wounds in such close proximity it actually looked like one big hole. One of them had gone clean through, but there was no exit wound for the other, the one in the kid’s arm.

 

As much as he hated the guy, he actually felt kinda _sorta_ bad for him. Getting shot was a shitty business. He would know. The PA was barely holding himself up with his left arm, his head drooped and his eyes shut tightly. His body shuddered with every breath as blood leaked profusely from the damaged area, already soaked through his clothing and beginning to pool onto the tile floor. Jack made a guess he’d never been shot before.

 

“Hey, uh... Rhys?” Jack tried, but he didn’t get an answer. He looked to Angel, who was just sitting in front of his assistant bawling her eyes out. He sighed, pulling out a small communicator. “Hey, can I get a med team up at my office? Need some bullet wound assistance up here.”

 

A pause.

 

“Nah, not me, my PA. Dumbass...”

 

Another pause.

 

“Whatever man, just get the hell up here, okay? He’s bleeding all over the floor.”

 

And with that, he put the communicator back into his pocket, turning to Angel and placing a strong hand on her shoulder. “You okay, Angel?” He asked.

 

But he got a different response than he’d been looking for. “Daddy, is Rhys gonna be okay?” She asked. “He’s...” She trailed off into sobs.

 

Jack shrugged. “Probably. Shame he didn’t run any faster, he could have avoided all this,” he stated indifferently, gesturing to the wounded shoulder. For some reason, Angel suddenly turned on him. “Dad!” She shouted at him in protest, giving him a pathetic smack with one of her arms.

 

“What?” he asked, mildly offended. “Just stating the facts.”

 

“This is all _my_ fault. He got me out, and then he…” She broke broke into another fit of sobs. “He got hurt.”

 

Jack raised a brow. “You’re saying he _saved_ you?” He only got a small nod in response. Now that he thought about it though, there was no way Angel would have made a move on her own. She hated confrontations, especially when it involved gunfire. She’d experienced it once before in even closer proximity and hated it ever since. Which means Rhys made the move to try and get her out of the office during that unfortunate mess. They could have stayed in place, he thought, but there was always a chance the dude could have turned around and shot at them there. They wouldn’t have had anywhere to go trapped in that corner. Ultimately, Rhys may have saved them. Saved _Angel_.

 

Maybe Jack had been too rough on the guy after all.

 

“ _Hurts_...” A very quiet mumble came from the shaking figure sitting in front of him. Rhys had his eyes open now, just barely, but he wasn’t looking at anything in particular. It looked like he was pretty fixated on the floor.

 

“Hey kiddo, just hang tight, okay? I got help on the way,” Jack mentioned, looking over his assistant again. Was it just him, or had he gotten a lot paler?

 

And that’s when Rhys’ left arm gave out, his body falling limply to the floor. Angel gasped. “Rhys!”

 

“Ah, shit.” Even Jack was a bit concerned now, finally making an attempt at helping on his own by going to apply pressure to the wounds. He was no good at dealing with medical crap. He honestly had no idea what he was doing.

 

Perhaps only a minute later though, the med team arrived, quickly taking over for Jack who stood up and gently pulled a reluctant Angel away.

 

“About time, you fuckin’ dicks. Did you take a lunch break before you got here?”

 

“N-no, sir, we had to-,”

 

“Oh, stuff it.” Jack snorted. “Just fix my assistant.”

 

“Yes, of course, sir.”

 

 

“Oh, and call me when he’s awake. I need to speak with him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Now that I'm back in the flow and waaaay less busy with school work, hopefully I'll be able to get this fic rolling again. ;^)


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